Wikipedia:List of hoaxes on Wikipedia

This is a list of known historical hoaxes on Wikipedia. Its purpose is to document hoaxes on Wikipedia, in order to improve our detection and understanding of them. It is considered a hoax if it was a clear or blatant attempt to make up something, as opposed to libel, vandalism or a factual error. A hoax is considered notable if it evaded detection for more than one month or was discussed by reliable sources in the media. This list is incomplete, as many hoaxes remain undiscovered.

A hoax can be added to this page if it meets the requirements above. Do not list Wikipedia April Fools' Day pranks, or factual articles about encyclopedic notable hoaxes. Start/End Date and Length are the dates and approximate time the article was generally visible.

For many of the below hoaxes, you can see an archived version of the deleted article by clicking on its title (see also list of archived hoaxes). Some also remain available from mirror sites. Any administrator can create an archived version of a hoax upon request by following the instructions below.

Suggestions to administrators on archiving hoaxes

Restore the original page and its talk page. Immediately remove any deletion templates from the top.

Add the template {{hoax demo}} to the top of both pages. This will create a prominent notification that the article is a hoax, and noindex it.

Place <nowiki></nowiki> around any explicit categories and/or interwiki links listed on either page, as well as around any metadata templates, such as {{persondata}}.

The article may still be in some categories due to the use of templates. Pass the category=no or nocat=true parameter to the template to remove it. If this does not work, consult the template documentation for the appropriate parameter; if it does not have one, either modify the template to accept this parameter, or simply place <nowiki></nowiki> around the template. The article should now be only in the categories "Noindexed pages" and MediaWiki-generated categories like "Pages with missing files".

(optional) If any of the images originally in the article have been deleted, insert a description of the original image in italics.

Fully protect both pages indefinitely. This ensures that the integrity of the archived hoaxes is preserved, and that they place no burden on project maintainers.

Muhammad Ali"A youth club in Ali's home town, a species of rose (Rosa Ali) and a small child have all been named after him." Apparently added by Telegraph journalist Michael Deacon to trick a friend who was compiling a quiz, and confessed to following the creation of an article about him.

Don MemeA fictitious "mythical, wise guru" in Puebla, Mexico, supposedly the subject of a nonexistent short story collection; also claimed to be a mentor for real-life bands and "an entity that appears as soon as a bohemian party is summoned." Later deleted via G3.

Chen FangA Wikipedian noticed in November 2012 that The Harvard Guide to Using Sources said that"an Expos student who was writing a paper about the limitations of Wikipedia posted a fictional entry for himself, stating that he was the mayor of a small town in China. Four years later, if you type in his name, or if you do a subject search on Wikipedia for mayors of towns in China, you will still find this fictional entry." No longer.

Rough Creek RanchSupposed ranch in Oklahoma which claimed to be "the first parcel to be purchased in a long-term plan to re-establish the equivalent of conditions in Oklahoma which existed prior to the arrival of Europeans in the 16th through 18th centuries."

Operation Pax RomanaFictitious Nazi program to expand the Holocaust in Romania, directed by a fake "Colonel Johannes Jodl" before his supposed escape to Brazil; hoax was revealed in a 2010 edit but self-reverted and survived five more years.

Digital LadyNonexistent San Francisco rock band that supposedly included the brother of the White House press secretary and used acoustic guitars and kitchen utensils to simulate the Moog synthesizer. Survived more than five years before G3 deletion.

Amelia BedeliaA wholly fictitious origin story of the main character of its eponymous popular children's book series: "Amelia Bedelia" was based on a French colonial maid in Cameroon, where the author spent some time during her formative years. Her vast collection of hats, notorious for their extensive plumage, inspired her to write an assortment of tales based on her experiences in North Africa. After being repeated tens of times, sometimes by journalists and academics, the hoax was identified by EJ Dickson, one of its authors, turned journalist, who had written it as a joke with a friend while "stoned".

Bicholim conflictFictitious war between the Portuguese rulers of Goa and the Maratha Empire which supposedly took place from mid-1640 to early 1641. Was assessed as a good article in September 2007, but failed a featured article nomination the next month as page numbers were not provided for references. ShelfSkewed (talk·contribs) investigated these references in 2012 and found that the main works cited do not actually exist.

Martin Coleman (American football)The story of a non-existent American football player who played for Clemson, Pitt, and the Oakland Raiders. It was recreated several days after deletion and lasted for nearly another month before being deleted again.

Jean MoufotFictitious French philosopher and mathematician. Article first appeared on nl.wikipedia, then translated versions subsequently appeared in French, German and English Wikipedias. Hoax was first discovered by the German Wiki and deleted across the wikis within a week.

19th-century invention of the hair iron attributed to fictitious persons, "Erica Feldman" (changed from Madam C. J. Walker) and another name (apparently a classmate) on English and Simple English Wikipedia. Both names are now widely credited on the Internet (as well as in one book) with the invention of the hair straightener [35][36][37][38][39]

MirskFamous Residents section alleging this as city where Nicholas Copernicus contracted genital warts from a Mirsk prostitute, as allegedly proved by DNA evidence. Vandalism was removed by Jimmy Wales.

Appears in this article and this publication of Olivia Newton-John related Wikipedia articles
Content was repeatedly re-added by an IP-hopper after first removal in April 2012, even after the addition of a source verifying the real vocalist's name, leading to indefinite semi-protection of both articles; see also Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/IncidentArchive747#Repeated vandalism for a likely source of the name.

Quaff distilleryMade-up name for the still genuinely constructed by mutineers from HMS Bounty on Pitcairn Island in the 1790s. Drink was supposedly also called "quaff" and supposedly gave its name to a worldwide drinking club enduring to this day.

Dexter, New York and Dexter, MaineOn two distinct occasions, it was falsely claimed the town was named after "Dexter Borup". The IP that made the first edit also added the name uncapitalized to Dexter,Maine

Federlandese (coin)"Had this "coin" been real, it would have pre-dated the oldest known Scandinavian coins by perhaps ~800 years, so we would have heard of it elsewhere. Also, people in Scandinavia didn't have a monetary economy 2100 years ago."

Note:This section should list only hoaxes covered in independent third-party sources. Short-lived hoaxes are innumerable and so we do not normally track them — they can be found by searching deletion logs for "hoax".

Hoax

Length

Start Date

End Date

Links

Edward Owens hoaxArticle concerning late 1800's Chesapeake Bay oyster fisherman who turned to piracy created as a part of an internet hoax performed by students enrolled in a George Mason University class entitled "Lying about History".

Alan McilwraithA "Walter Mitty" character who faked a bio of his supposed military record on Wikipedia. It initially lasted three weeks before being deleted at AfD. It was recreated three times but deleted within a day each time, but then the story hit the headlines in April 2006 and the article was recreated to be about him as a hoaxer

Upper Peninsula WarAccount of a fictional conflict in 1843 between the State of Michigan and Canada over a disputed territorial line in the Upper Peninsula and subsequent secession attempt by the governor of Michigan.

Ronnie HazlehurstErroneous information (alleging that he had co-written a pop hit for band S Club 7) inserted into this article led to several news outlets repeating it in his obituary following his death, which in turn led to verifiable citations. The incident was widely reported in the UK meta-media, in particular by Private Eye & Have I Got News for You (the latter featuring the editor of the former as a regular panellist.

Roger VinsonAddition that the individual was an amateur taxidermist who mounted bear heads above the door of his courtroom. The hoax information became known when Rush Limbaugh misused it on his radio program.

Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Plunges into Canada, ISBN 9781607101000 page 272, inexplicably devotes two thirds of a printed page to this short-lived bit of vandalism, explaining in detail how MESSENGER was the first mission to visit Canada in over 30 years, studying its environment and characteristics from orbit.